by the Biograph Company under the alternative titles Reproduction, Coronation Ceremonies, King Edward VII and Coronation of King Edward. In all cases, it was not advertised as actual footage of the ceremony, but freely admitted to be a staged simulation of the event. It was accepted as such by the public, although one writer in the French illustrated journal Le Petit Bleu harshly criticized the film for being artificial: The film was an immediate popular success, moving from headliner status at the Alhambra through the circuit of England's Empire Palace music halls and thence to distribution worldwide. In the United States, where the film was available a few days after the coronation, the showman Lyman H. Howe exhibited it together with other footage of London and of the Coronation Day parade to create a well-received long-form presentation. One American critic commented: Méliès used his share of the considerable profits from The Coronation of Edward VII to produce two additional major films the same year: Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants. In complexity and notability, The Coronation of Edward VII remains second only to the multipart 1899 docudrama The Dreyfus Affair among Méliès's reconstructed newsreels. In their book-length studies of Méliès, John Frazer commented appreciatively on the film's "dignity and restraint," and Elizabeth Ezra highlighted the film's "interplay between fantasy and realism" inviting "viewers to question the distinction between the two representative modes." A few days after the coronation, the film was screened for Edward VII himself, who found the imitation ceremony delightful. He reportedly commented: "Many congratulations! This is splendid! What a marvellous apparatus cinema is. It's found a way of recording even the parts of the ceremony that didn't take place." References External links 1902 films Documentary films about historical events 1900s short documentary films Black-and-white documentary films Cultural depictions of Edward VII Documentary films about British royalty Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films French black-and-white films French short documentary films